Dealing With Cystic Fibrosis

A “Benefit for Teri (Sanden) Starkey” notice was on the Our Lady of Angels bulletin board this Sunday.

The event was Saturday, July 29, and in Litchfield; a town south and a bit east of here, about an hour and half away.

I saw the notice a day late to do anything by Saturday, but figure I could pass along what I learned.

She has cystic fibrosis, and needs new lungs. The clinic in her area wouldn’t or couldn’t do the procedure.

The good news is that an outfit in North Carolina will. However, getting a chance to keep her alive means raising money to move her to North Carolina, plus her two kids and husband. That’s something like a thousand miles away.

My guess is that the family has above-average medical expenses, too.

That’s pretty much all I know. A little additional information clipped to the notice helped me find these links:

We can’t cure cystic fibrosis yet. There’s some promising gene therapy research in progress, but that won’t help folks who need new lungs now.1 Happily, we’ve been getting better at organ transplants. It’s not ‘just routine,’ though.

Life and health are both gifts from God. Taking good care of them is a good idea, within reason. Making either my highest goal would not. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2288, 2289)

Organ transplants are ‘within reason,’ if expected benefits outweigh the risks. We’re told that donating organs after death “…is a noble and meritorious act…” We’re also told that killing someone and breaking them down for parts is a bad idea, and we shouldn’t do it. (Catechism, 2296)

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About Brian H. Gill

I'm a sixty-something married guy with six kids, four surviving, in a small central Minnesota town. I mostly write and make digital art. I'm only interested in three things: that which exists within the universe; that which exists beyond; and that which might exist.

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